5 things I liked this week – 12.8.16

2. A relaxing bench in the sun, with the rather clever feature of being part of a series of benches, where each bench gets progressively bigger. I was on the second biggest bench and my feet couldn’t touch the floor, making me swing my legs and feel happily like a little kid.

I’m also quite fond of Prisma

3. I keep reading stories about this weird star that is baffling astronomers, one possible explanation is that some alien civilisation is using the sun for something (as an energy source presumably) or has some giant megastructure orbiting around it. Of course there could be some scientific explanation (that doesn’t involve aliens) that we just don’t understand yet but aliens would be cool (as long as they’re nice aliens). But then again (and I’ve lost the link to this article), I read another article this week that reckons life on Earth may be premature compared to the rest of the universe, that conditions aren’t right yet elsewhere but will be eventually. Now, in a way that would be even scarier than face eating aliens, if we’re the oldest civilisation in the universe, you know the sort of species that goes round looking all wise and bearded in cloaks, god help the rest of the universe.

4. We’ve had The Living and The Dead on our DVR for ages, some of it is still on iPlayer (although the first few episodes have already disappeared). Me and Mr. Lacer watched the first episode and we were like “hmmm, is it worth watching or is not worth watching?” (leaving aside the pure attractiveness of this man).

I was also a bit dubious as it’s quite scary and I am most definitely not into scary things. But we did some looking around at the reviews (whilst trying to avoid spoilers) and everyone was raving about it, so we kept it on the DVR. Meanwhile there were other things to watch and I’m still at the recovery stage where going to bed at 8pm is still very attractive sometimes, so it wasn’t getting watched. But me and Mr. Lacer made a concerted effort this week and ooh it’s good. It’s still scary but sigh, Colin Morgan. My perving aside, it’s a fantastic story, sort of a traditional ghost story with a twist, set in a working country estate. I have quite a fondness for the farming bits in particular because on my dad’s side, there’s a whole branch of the family tree who were farm workers doing the harvest, just as they’re doing in The Living and The Dead, for centuries, staying in the same village for generations.

The Living and The Dead also has the extra added bonus of being filmed in some absolutely stunning scenery, it must have been quite familiar for Morgan, as the episode we’ve just watched, featured lots of running in and out of crevices and caves and they’re exactly the same ones they used for Merlin. They filmed The Living and The Dead in the Forest of Dean, somewhere I’ve never been and is now on my holiday destination wish list!

5. I try and have a set mental list in my head of clothes I want to add to my wardrobe, that way I’m less likely to make impulse purchases and I will admit, there’s a certain thrill of the chase when I find ‘the’ perfect whatever that I’ve been after, especially as the perfect whatever has to also be affordable. So I was really please to find this skirt in M&S, the label in the shop said it was an a-line (although I note it doesn’t say that on the website) but it isn’t really, it’s much more like a pencil skirt, which is what I was after, it’s got just the right amount of cling (so it’s really comfy) and it’s just the right length, result!